“Mimi and Toutou’s Big Adventure”: True tale that inspired “The African Queen” | The Seattle Times “Mimi and Toutou’s Big Adventure”: True tale that inspired “The African Queen” Originally published June 3, 2005 at 12:00 am Updated June 2, 2005 at 3:29 pm Geoffrey Basil Spicer-Simson, a tattooed failure in the British Royal Navy who preferred going into battle wearing a skirt, would seem material... Share story “Mimi and Toutou’s Big Adventure: The Bizarre Battle of Lake Tanganyika” by Giles Foden Knopf, 272 pp., $24 Geoffrey Basil Spicer-Simson, a tattooed failure in the British Royal Navy who preferred going into battle wearing a skirt, would seem material enough for a central character in an adventure tale about East Africa during World War I. But by the time “The African Queen” had gone through the hands of novelist C.S.

Forester and movie director John Huston, the eccentric smoker of cigarettes monogrammed with his own name had disappeared, to be replaced by Charlie Allnut and Rosie Sayer, the characters portrayed by Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn in Huston’s 1951 movie. Giles Foden’s book, “Mimi and Toutou’s Big Adventure: The Bizarre Battle of Lake Tanganyika,” reaches beyond the fictional “African Queen” to reclaim the true story that was its inspiration. That story was Spicer’s, who at the start of the war was the oldest lieutenant commander in the navy, sitting in disgrace in a London office because of a series of failures that resulted in two sunken British ships. Most Read Stories Unlimited Digital Access. $1 for 4 weeks.

Despite this dismal record, Spicer rises to the occasion by successfully transporting two armed motor launches — the Mimi and the Toutou — from England to Lake Tanganyika in East Africa, first as cargo on an oceangoing vessel to South Africa, then pulled by steam engines and oxen up the continent and finally hauled down rivers and on rail lines to 400-mile-long Lake Tanganyika, which was controlled by the Germans from their bases in German East Africa on the lake’s eastern shore. Arriving in October 1915 after a five-month journey, Spicer immediately dons a skirt (“Very practical for the hot weather”). He captures one German vessel and sinks another. But then Spicer mysteriously loses his nerve, refusing to send out his boats to face the last German ship on the lake and allowing the Germans to escape back to German East Africa in a later action. In August 1916, during the final battle for control of the lake and East Africa, Spicer and his flotilla are ordered to remain behind.

The commander who once delighted in strutting about showing off his tattoos and dreaming of achieving fame and glory takes to his bed, staring all day at the ceiling until he is sent back to London, invalided because of “acute mental debility.” He finishes the war in the same desk job he held before the African campaign. What would have made Spicer a wonderful literary character are his human frailties — he was a liar and braggart, ill-tempered and vain — and his metamorphosis from failure to success and back again. But in his 1935 novel, Forester chose a different means of creating drama, throwing together “hard-drinking riverboat captain Charlie Allnut and holier-than-thou Rose Sayer.” Foden’s book explores the potential of Spicer as a literary character while detailing the history surrounding the military action in Africa. His descriptions of this minor campaign are fast-paced, and the book is filled with fascinating characters, none more so than Spicer, who eventually retired to Courtenay, B.C., where he died in 1947 at age 71.

The book draws heavily on a 1922 National Geographic article by Frank Magee, who was a member of Spicer’s expedition, and on Peter Shankland’s 1968 book “The Phantom Flotilla” — so much so, in fact, that the question comes up, “Why not read that book?” Good luck finding it. The book is out of print and not readily available for purchase. Seattle Public Library has a copy, and if you want to know more about the military action, the Shankland book has mind-numbing detail. But if you’re happy to make a mild but satisfying acquaintance with this historical starting point for “The African Queen,” stick with Foden’s book. John B. Saul The African Queen Arrives in Connecticut - The New York Times The New York Times N.Y. / Region |The African Queen Arrives in Connecticut Search The African Queen Arrives in Connecticut By SAM LIBBY Continue reading the main story ABOUT four and a half nautical miles from Katharine Hepburn's summer residence in the Fenwick section of Old Saybrook, two important vessels in her film career -- the African Queen and the Thayer IV -- will soon become tourist attractions. Ms.

Hepburn was "surprised that the African Queen was still existent," said Ellsworth Grant, Ms. Hepburn's brother-in-law and a nautical historian. Ms. Hepburn paid a visit to the boat last fall, before it was transported to Key Largo, Fla., where it is on display in the winter. This weekend, the African Queen, the 30-foot, 1912 steam launch featured in the 1951 movie of the same name, starring Katharine Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart, will become available for excursions in the Connecticut River and Long Island Sound. Seven days a week from 10 A.M. to sunset, until November, the African Queen will leave on excursions every hour on the hour from the Saybrook Yacht Basin on Ferry Road, said Ben Clarkson, director of the River School, which teaches marine education and river lore. The excursions (fare is $15, proceeds to the school's summer program) will last 45 minutes, the route to be determined by tide and weather, he said.

In July the school offers day rowing trips on retired Coast Guard surf boats or traditional wooden dories for youngsters from 10 to 18. Advertisement Continue reading the main story In August high school students from Middletown, Old Saybrook, Lyme and Old Lyme will make up a schooner crew for a marine biology tour of the Connecticut River and the Sound. Students will take water samples and test for water quality as well as catch, study and release marine animals, Mr. Clarkson said. Local high school students will take part in the maintenance and repair of the 84-year-old steam launch and the Thayer IV, a 45-year-old, 21-foot Chris Craft used in the 1981 movie "On Golden Pond," which starred Ms. Hepburn, Henry Fonda and Jane Fonda. Please verify you're not a robot by clicking the box. Invalid email address. Please re-enter. You must select a newsletter to subscribe to. Sign Up Privacy Policy The African Queen is not only an important artifact of American cinema, it is also a beautiful example of a steam-powered riverboat, Mr. Clarkson said.

The steam launches were built in England and shipped to Africa where they were used by English mining companies, he said. The versatility of the vessel was in many ways demonstrated in the 1951 movie, Mr. Clarkson said. In the movie an unlikely romance blossoms in the vessel between Charlie Allnut, a gin-swilling river pilot played by Mr. Bogart, and Ms. Hepburn's Rosie Slayer, the prim spinster sister of a missionary. As romance develops, the couple struggles against German imperialists, a fight that culminates when the explosive-laden vessel smashes into and destroys a warship. Although a steam-powered launch was blown-up, two identical boats were used during the making of the movie. A 1951 Chris Craft was also destroyed in the filming of 'On Golden Pond' but two identical boats were used during the making of that movie, said Mr. Clarkson. "On Golden Pond" is noteworthy because it was the only time Ms. Hepburn worked with Mr. Fonda, who died soon after the movie was released. The Thayer IV needs a lot of work, said Mr. Clarkson. But the boat will be restored and exhibited sometime this summer.

The mahogany in-board engine boat is also interesting because it represents the final era of mass produced wooden boats, There are challenges to exhibiting vessels that are known to millions through the movies, said Mr. Clarkson. When the African Queen's captain and owner, Jim W. Hendricks, began showing the vessel in Key Largo, people did not recognize it; the vessel was too clean and too well maintained, said Mr. Clarkson. African Queen to set sail again on commercial cruises up Uganda's Nile | World news | The Guardian Uganda African Queen to set sail again on commercial cruises up Uganda's Nile Boat owner Cam McLeay confident his is original African Queen, abandoned after use in film starring Humphrey Bogart The boat thought to be the original African Queen used in the film starring Humphrey Bogart and Katherine Hepburn has been restored.

Photograph: AFP/Getty Images Uganda African Queen to set sail again on commercial cruises up Uganda's Nile Boat owner Cam McLeay confident his is original African Queen, abandoned after use in film starring Humphrey Bogart Thursday 31 October 2013 11.40 EDT First published on Thursday 31 October 2013 11.40 EDT Close This article is 3 years old More than 60 years after Humphrey Bogart's gin-swilling captain steered her through treacherous, hippo and crocodile-infested waters during the first world war – falling in love with Katharine Hepburn's missionary along the way – the African Queen has been restored. There's no sign of the 2,000 cigarettes or tinned grubs that Bogart's character Charlie Allnut boasts about, but passengers will be pleased to know that the obligatory two cases of gin will be on board when the boat sets sail on commercial cruises up Uganda's Nile in the coming weeks.

The 1951 Hollywood classic film, which earned Bogart his only Oscar, was shot on the Nile in Murchison Falls National Park in Uganda , but also in the Democratic Republic of the Congo on a tributary of the Congo river and at studios in England. Cam McLeay, a New Zealander who owns a lodge at Jinja from near where the cruises will start, says he is confident his boat is the Nile's original African Queen, abandoned after filming finished – although there are other contenders. McLeay bought the vessel from Yank Evans, a Patagonian mechanical engineer who found the boat while working on the roads in Murchison Falls National Park in 1984. "He [Evans] asked the locals what this was and they said, 'Well, that's the African Queen'," said McLeay. "It was just a rust bucket. There was no engine but there was a funnel and there was the steel hull.

She was all rotted away below the waterline and all the woodwork had been eaten by termites." After paying Uganda National Parks $1 for the boat, Evans trucked her back to Entebbe, about 35km from the country's capital Kampala. With his son, Billy, he rebuilt the hull. It was a labour of love. Although the African Queen was actually diesel-powered, she appeared as a steam engine onscreen and Evans decided she must be steam-powered in real life. It took two years for his mate, who then worked for the steam engine society in England, to come up with a missing part, which he airfreighted to Africa . Evans ran some trips on the boat on Uganda's Lake Victoria in the late 1990s, but took her with him when he went to live in Kenya in 1997. Covered in tarp, her residence became a Nairobi garden trailer until McLeay, who had gone to Lamu in 2010 to look for an authentic African boat, heard of her existence, tracked her down and "took a punt on the investment". "There was no way of testing it.

She hadn't run for 10 years," he said. When McLeay got a call from customs saying the African Queen was stuck at the Kenya-Uganda border without a serial number, he had to think quick. "Of course the boat had never had a serial number," he said. "So I just said straight away it's AQ01 and they wrote it down and said that's fine." Diesel engineer Gavin Fahey has spent nearly the past six months rebuilding her century-old engine, which has the words T Parkinson Blackburn written on the manufacturer's plate. He has also replated the hull and replaced more than 100 boiler tubes. Most of the equipment came from Britain. "She needs constant attention and to tick along at good pace (10kph approximately) requires good team work and constant monitoring," said Fahey. "Sometimes we need to turn around in tight spots. This leads to four or five gear changes and good timing as we are also dealing with currents, and the boat is heavy." But following a test run on the Nile last week he said all the African Queen needed to sort out was a couple of mechanical issues – and more props.

"There were lots of boxes and boxes of Gordon's on the boat, so we're trying to replicate that," he said before he tootled the whistle and she set sail. Another boat claiming to be an original from the film is now in Florida, also having been restored, running daily cruises. But McLeay said reading Katharine Hepburn's book The Making of the African Queen: Or How I Went to Africa With Bogart, Bacall and Huston and Almost Lost My Mind, convinced him that two boats were used during filming – and that his was one of them. The African Queen | film by Huston [1951] | Britannica.com film by Huston [1951] Humphrey Bogart The African Queen, American adventure film , released in 1951, that was based on C.S. Forester ’s 1935 novel of the same name . The film is especially noted for Humphrey Bogart ’s performance, which earned him the only Academy Award of his career. Katharine Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart in The African Queen (1951).

Courtesy of United Artists Corporation Set in German East Africa at the outbreak of World War I , the film focuses on Charlie Allnut (played by Bogart), a slovenly gin-swilling Canadian riverboat captain, and Rose Sayer ( Katharine Hepburn ), a prim psalm-singing British missionary. After German troops burn Rose’s mission, which leads to the death of her clergyman-brother ( Robert Morley ), Charlie comes to her rescue, helping her bury her brother and escape down the nearby river on his dilapidated boat, the African Queen. Although the two lock horns almost immediately—in part because Rose despises Charlie’s drinking and coarse behaviour—she manages to convince him to attack the Louisa, a German warship stationed at the mouth of the river, by attaching makeshift torpedoes to their vessel. As their journey continues, the mismatched couple suffers one hardship after another—including rapids, torrential rains, and damage to the boat—and they constantly trade insults and barbs along the way. Eventually, however, a mutual admiration for one another sets in, which soon turns to love. The pair finally draw near to the Louisa, but before they can carry out their plan, the African Queen capsizes.

Captured by the enemy, Charlie and Rose are sentenced to death, but they convince the German captain (Peter Bull) to marry them first. As soon as they are married, the Louisa collides with the African Queen and explodes, and in the commotion the newlyweds swim to safety. Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn in The African Queen (1951), … Horizon Pictures and Romulus Films Ltd.; photograph from a private collection Similar Topics Titanic Although the screenplay was written with little humour in mind, the chemistry between Bogart and Hepburn was so apparent that director John Huston advised his stars to improvise witty banter. Huston’s insistence upon filming in the Belgian Congo , Uganda , and Turkey added immeasurably to the lush look of the production, even if the rough conditions in Africa were trying on the cast and crew.

(Bogart later boasted that he was one of the few to stay healthy through the shoot, attributing the accomplishment to his drinking of whiskey instead of the local water.) The film inspired uncredited screenwriter Peter Viertel ’s semifictional book White Hunter, Black Heart (1953), which in turn was adapted into a 1990 film directed by and starring Clint Eastwood . Production notes and credits More about The African Queen 2 References found in Britannica Articles Assorted References Oscar to Bogart for best actor, 1951 (in Humphrey Bogart ) External Links Reel Classics - The African Queen (1951) Information on this Hollywood classic with Humphrey Bogart and Katherine Hepburn in the lead. Includes details on cast, crew, and awards with pictures. Britannica Web sites The African Queen - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up) The American adventure film The African Queen (1951) was based on British author C.S. Forester’s 1935 novel of the same name.

The film, which was cowritten and directed by John Huston, is especially noted for Humphrey Bogart’s performance, which earned him the only Academy Award of his career. Article Contributors The African Queen (1951) - Goofs - IMDb The African Queen (1951) Goofs Showing all 49 items Jump to: Anachronisms (1) | Audio/visual unsynchronised (1) | Boom mic visible (1) | Character error (3) | Continuity (14) | Crew or equipment visible (1) | Errors in geography (1) | Factual errors (5) | Miscellaneous (1) | Revealing mistakes (13) | Spoilers (8) Anachronisms While passing the German fort, a hose on the boiler is shot and damaged. Allnut wraps a cloth around the hose and then begins to wrap it with tape. The tape is clearly cotton-based black gaffer's tape, used in movie and stage production to cover and hide set hardware that is not to be seen.

Gaffer's tape was invented by Johnson & Johnson in 1942 in response to the military's request for a tape that could be used to seal metal ammunition boxes to keep out water. Thus it did not exist in 1914 when the movie is set. The African Queen | Film Review | Slant Magazine The African Queen by Matthew Connolly February 10, 2011 Star vehicles have been a part of the Hollywood assembly line practically since its inception, but few have utilized (and literalized) the concept to such beloved effect as The African Queen. Really, what is the idea behind John Huston’s 1951 adventure-romance other than putting Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn on a riverboat in Africa and see what happens? The world becomes reduced to the clanky titular ship and some passing jungle mise-en-scène, an elemental landscape in which Bogart’s worldly wisecracks and Hepburn’s clipped pronouncements can flourish beyond the captivity of ornate plot mechanics or, for the most part, other characters.

Its modesty of ambition makes The African Queen among the least complex classics of Hollywood’s waning “golden age” (for a movie with a World War I setting and a colonialist context, it offers little interpretive earth to excavate), but leaves plenty of time for Huston and company to lovingly appraise the personae of two Tinseltown darlings. The lead’s performances are undoubtedly of the star-turn variety, making little effort to conceal their trademark mannerisms. (Hepburn and Bogart are somewhat hilariously cast as British and Canadian, respectively, though barely a trace of an accent is present to cloud either her starched New England flatness or his booze-and-smokes gravel.) But they’re not resting on their laurels either. The African Queen also finds them toying around with their on-screen personalities, puffing them up with winking good humor or stripping them to their core. Bogart undoubtedly takes the former route as Charlie Allnut, the gin-guzzling captain of the African Queen.

His ruddy if haggard visage covered in unkempt whiskers, Bogart’s Charlie is full of life-on-the-river debauch yet endearingly tentative, his face frequently crinkling into a look of shoulder-shrugging apology. Bogart slyly draws upon his past performances here—men of weary-eyed cynicism and faded idealism—to give Charlie’s rudderless existence an extra-textual charge. Could this be where Rick Blaine ended up after he strolled off into the mist, or how Sam Spade ended his days when the cases stopped coming across his desk? That Bogart finds so much humor in Charlie’s goofball debasement only adds to its poignancy. Hepburn’s Rose Sayer appears less of a stretch for an actress known for her portrayals of tightly wound go-getters, and Hepburn does not defy expectations so much as fulfill them with bracing force. The buttoned-up sister of a white preacher (Robert Morley) proselytizing in Eastern Africa, Rose joins Charlie on the African Queen after an attack by German soldiers leaves the village decimated and her brother in an eventually fatal state of shock.

She predictably turns up her nose at Charlie in the early-going, looking down on his drinking and slovenly demeanor and insisting upon the use of formal titles while on the ship. (The way Hepburn, in her unmistakable Yankee cadences, repeatedly calls out for “Mistah AWL-naut” becomes one of the film’s best running gags.) Her iron will, however, quickly extends beyond merely enforcing gender propriety. Charlie, who plans on waiting out the war in a boozy stupor, casually mentions the presence of a German gunboat, the Louisa, down river. Rose’s eyes light up, and after a quick scan of the boat’s components, devises a plan: construct some makeshift torpedoes and blow up the Louisa by running the African Queen straight into the enemy vessel. Ostensibly an act of vengeance for her brother’s demise, Rose’s plan comes across more vividly as the manifestation of her almost comical indomitability. This steadfastness, in turn, feeds off Hepburn’s own reputation (on screen and off) as a no-nonsense unbreakable spirit.

She sketches Rose with strokes at once broad and sharp, underlining her famed tenacity while slicing away any superfluous layers until all that remains is raw resolve. The result is a performance as sinewy and unpretentious as Hepburn’s bony figure (always thin, she dropped roughly 20 pounds after falling ill during the film’s infamously calamitous shoot). Their voyage encounters a fairly standard-issue set of blockages, including a run-in with German snipers and three—count ‘em, three—hairy navigations through wild river rapids and unexpected waterfalls. Setting aside the inevitably dated quality of these heavily rear-projected scenes, the action sequences, while handled with old-pro professionalism by Huston, are not where the director’s heart seems to be within the material. His filmmaking eye seems much more enamored with the jungles of Uganda and Belgian Congo (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo), whose verdant foliage and golden yellows were captured with rich Technicolor by cinematographer Jack Cardiff.

Their textured tones look ripe enough to pluck off the screen in the film’s painstaking new 35mm restoration, but attention must also be paid to the darker hues, which gain a striking, inky blackness in the new print. A scene that finds a grieving Rose sitting under a porch overhang midday is an arresting portrait of sorrow, the frame’s expressive use of shadow as crucial as the way Hepburn’s bereft face both refuses and threatens to become lost within it. Huston relishes in his hard-fought location footage, even if he ultimately views it in terms of how it affects the Charlie/Rose relationship. (That being said, he cannot resist throwing in a few get-your-money’s-worth inserts of howling monkeys and slithering crocodiles.) The jungle’s character changes over the course of the film, moving from a picturesque if demanding landscape to a milieu more defined by impersonal hardships than visual opulence. Charlie and Rose pull over to the shore to spend the evening, only to get attacked by a nasty swarm of mosquitoes, their unceasing buzz dominating the soundtrack for an unnervingly long stretch.

Later, they work their way through a section of the river that’s more mud than water, with Charlie pulling the boat in an image of Sisyphean hopelessness. All seems lost, and Huston lingers on a moving image of Hepburn as she offers one final prayer for their place in heaven before lying down in Bogart’s arms to die. The African Queen is too light an entertainment for such moments to gain too much weight, but Huston understands the majestic savagery of his surroundings well enough to let it exert some dramatic pressure on what is primarily a buoyant romantic comedy. Indeed, the thought of Charlie and Rose perishing on the dirty deck of the African Queen feels at once tragic and oddly appropriate, given both how skillfully Hepburn and Charlie have shaded their burgeoning romance and how connected the couple’s Edenic bliss feels to their natural surroundings. Their romance begins not in an intimate clinch, but as the culmination of near-death experience: a narrow escape from the rapids that leads to an excited smooch. The speed with which these seemingly opposite figures fall for one another strains plausibility, offering little in the way of tangible erotic connection.

(Bosley Crowther, not exactly known for his strong opinions on cinematic hanky-panky, dubbed their canoodling “perhaps the screen’s least lustful and least likely seduction scene.”) What they lack in heat, however, is more than made up in warmth. Scene after scene showcases little more than playful banter, nuzzling, and touchingly mild breakthroughs in intimacy—no more so than the first time Rose tentatively replaces the formal “Mr. Allnut” with “dear.” What Hepburn and Bogart find in these scenes is the rich pleasures of affectionate camaraderie— the joy of unexpectedly finding one’s equal—and it has everything to do with the slippage that occurs between character and actor. We know that Bogie only had eyes for Bacall, and Kate would never dream of betraying old Spence. To see them gaze into one another’s eyes and onto one another’s bodies with such relaxation and generous humor, then, is to witness the delight of a semi-improbable and thoroughly winning collaboration.

That it occurs as both stars found themselves middle-aged in a young person’s business (Bogart was in his early 50s during the shoot, while Hepburn was easing into her mid 40s) only enhances their characters’ appreciative emotional bond. Both had gone deeper before, and both still had better work ahead of them. But to watch Charlie pretend to be a hippo so he can get a laugh out of Rose—that is, to consider how gratifying it is to watch Humphrey Bogart act like a seventh-grade class clown, and infer how delighted Katharine Hepburn seems to be while witnessing this—is to let oneself appreciate one of filmgoing’s simplest pleasures. He looks, then she looks; she laughs, then he laughs. We’re just happy to be there. Buy 23 Awesome Movie Captains | GamesRadar+ 23 Awesome Movie Captains Captain America may be cool, but he's not the only awesome captain... Shares Captain America: The First Avenger (2011) The Captain: Steve Rogers, a puny American, tried to enlist in the army during World War II, but was denied. He was soon injected with an experimental serum which made him into Captain America.

The Awesome: The Cap throws a virtually indestructible shield at his enemies and is an all-round perfect soldier, who has super-strength and uses expert tactics. Plus, he once punched Hitler in the face. Prev Next Peter Pan (1953) The Captain: Captain Hook is Peter Pan's enemy and the captain of his own ship. After Peter Pan comes back to Neverland, Hook decides to take revenge on him for chopping off his hand. The Awesome: With a hook for a hand and a bumbling sidekick named Smee, he is the quintessential pirate captain. On the downside, he's scared of a ticking crocodile. Prev Next Hook (1991) The Captain: Captain Hook is appearing twice, because Dustin Hoffman's Hook is a whole different kettle of fish. This time, Hook kidnaps a grown-up Peter Pan's children and challenges him to a duel. The Awesome: This Hook is even more fearsome (and possibly even camper), hitting Peter Pan where it hurts by turning his son against him and killing the leader of the Lost Boys, Rufio.

Prev Next Star Trek: First Contact (1996) The Captain: Captain Jean-Luc Picard, the Next Generation captain played by Patrick Stewart, is normally used to being rational and sensible. Here he goes all action-star on the Borg. The Awesome: One of the best Star Trek films, possibly because Stewart goes all bad-ass and fires a tommy gun at Borg drones, before unleashing a fearsome monologue on the Cenobite-looking cyborg sods. Assimilate that, you kitchen-drawer-faced lunatics. Prev Next The Adventures Of Tintin: The Secret Of The Unicorn (2011) The Captain: Captain Haddock is portrayed by Andy Serkis in the upcoming film. He is Tintin's best friend (other than Snowy of course) and is a multi-millionaire seafaring Merchant Marine Captain. The Awesome: The film isn't out yet, but if the books, the trailer and the Comic-Con reception are anything to go by, he should be brilliant. The drunk captain is unstable and emotional, much like the vast majority of the Total Film staff. Prev Next Das Boot (1981) The Captain: Capt.-Lt.

Henrich Lehmann-Willenbrock commanded the U-96, and actually existed in real life. He commanded the German U-boat during World War II. The Awesome: The man is a hardened veteran, he is openly anti-Nazi and he commands the ship through what director Wolfgang Petersen tried to show as "what war was all about." Prev Next She Wore A Yellow Ribbon (1949) The Captain: John Wayne plays Capt. Nathan Cutting Brittles, an aging US Cavalry captain sent on one last patrol to deal with a Native American breakout from a reservation. The Awesome: It's John Wayne with John Ford in the American West, using amazing cinematography featuring Monument Valley. It was one of Wayne's best roles, and he had quite a few. Prev Next Pirates Of The Caribbean (2003-2011) The Captain: Captain Jack Sparrow makes it known that he's the captain of the Black Pearl to anyone who'll listen. He's never just Jack Sparrow. The Awesome: He's perpetually disappointed by the lack of rum, he's a scoundrel, he'll double-cross, but somehow he'll get it together and save the day.

Oh, and Keith Richards is his dad. Prev Next Serenity (2005) The Captain: Malcolm Reynolds, played by Nathan Fillion, is captain of the spaceship Serenity. The film continues after the final episode of the cancelled television series Firefly. The Awesome: Avengers helmer Joss Whedon directs and Reynolds is cut from the same cloth as Star Wars ' Han Solo, as a space mercenary who just wants to get by. Prev Next Airplane! (1980) The Captain: Capt. Clarence Oveur is the pilot of the ill-fated aeroplane, and he's struck down with food-poisoning alongside his co-pilot Roger Murdock. The Awesome: Captain Oveur: "That's Clarence Oveur. Over." Tower voice: "Over." Captain Oveur: "Roger." Roger Murdock: "Huh?" Tower voice: "Roger, over!" Roger Murdock: "What?" Captain Oveur: "Huh?" Actual genius.

Prev Next Sky Captain And The World Of Tomorrow (2004) The Captain: Jude Law plays Joe Sullivan, AKA Sky Captain, who, along with reporter Polly Perkins, must track down a posthumous Laurence Olivier who is building the "World of Tomorrow". The Awesome: It was one of the first films to be filmed entirely on a digital backlot, and Jude Law is the action star who must save the alternate 1939 with his private air force. He knocks out a robot too. Prev Next Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan (1982) The Captain: James T. Kirk (William Shatner) was the captain of the USS Enterprise, and was the original Star Trek captain. Chris Pine played him in the reboot in 2009. One day we hope to see them in the same film. Well, we can dream, can't we? The Awesome: For this particular film, Kirk takes on his old adversary Khan, who has escaped exile. This film steered away from the first film and went back to the original series' identity. Prev Next The African Queen (1951) The Captain: Charlie Allnut is the captain of African Queen.

He's a rather coarse Canadian who delivers mail and supplies to siblings Samuel and Rose Sayer. The Awesome: Humphrey Bogart won his only Oscar for the role of the boat captain who, despite being a rough and ready man, wins over Katharine Hepburn and marries her. Doesn't get much more awesome than that. Prev Next Dr Strangelove Or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Bomb (1964) The Captain: Group Captain Lionel Mandrake is just one of Peter Seller's three characters in the film. Mandrake is the man who allows an attack on the Soviet Union but then needs to stop it. The Awesome: Dr Strangelove is, simply, one of the best political satires of all time. Peter Sellers teaming up with Stanley Kubrick. Peter Sellers playing multiple characters before Eddie Murphy tarnished it. Epic awesome. Prev Next Captain Ron (1992) The Captain: The title character, Captain Ron, is played by Kurt Russell, an eye-patch wearing sailor, who is hired to take a middle-class family around the Caribbean on a yacht.

The Awesome: The last time Kurt Russell donned an eye-patch was for his role as Snake Plissken. This time he's much friendlier, quirkier and Russell's comedic performance is downright brilliant. Prev Next Moby Dick (1956) The Captain: Captain Ahab is the captain of the ship Pequod, and seeks the legendary sperm whale, Moby Dick, which took his leg and destroyed his boat on a previous encounter. The Awesome: One of the greatest captains in the history of literature captured on screen. Gregory Peck perfectly harnesses the character's obsession with hunting down that whale. Prev Next Saving Private Ryan (1998) The Captain: Tom Hanks plays Capt. John H. Miller, the leader of the team of eight men who set out to find Private Ryan, the last remaining brother of four servicemen. The Awesome: Hanks's lead gets the team through thick and thin, from the landing on Omaha Beach, to a sniper, to German forces. It costs him his life, but Ryan is eternally grateful.

Prev Next The Hunt For Red October (1990) The Captain: Marko Ramius is the commanding officer of the Red October, an undetectable Soviet submarine which is feared to be planning an attack on the U.S. The Awesome: Sean Connery, mostly. He plays the captain who plans to defect, alongside Alec Baldwin's Jack Ryan. The film was one of the most critically acclaimed of the year. Prev Next The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou (2004) The Captain: Steve Zissou is an eccentric oceanographer who wants to take revenge on the jaguar shark that ate his best friend Esteban on his last project. The Awesome: Bill Murray puts in a brilliant performance as Zissou under regular collaborator Wes Anderson. Murray was expected by many to receive an Oscar nom as the title character, but would the Academy ever be that cool? Prev Next Pirates Of The Caribbean (2003-2011) The Captain: Geoffrey Rush's Captain Barbossa took the Black Pearl from Jack Sparrow and they've been in a battle for it ever since. The Awesome: The first film is where Barbossa is at his finest.

As the captain of the cursed ship, he becomes a skeletal nightmare at sunset, along with the rest of his crew. Prev Next Jaws (1975) The Captain: Quint is the captain of the Orca. He's a shark hunter and teaming up with police chief Brody and marine biologist Hooper, they find the shark and take it down. The Awesome: Robert Shaw's Quint is the fearless cappy who pays the ultimate price for trying to help protect the townsfolk from the killer shark. Prev Next 20, 000 Leagues Under The Sea (1954) The Captain: Nemo is captain of the Nautilus, a mysterious captain who prefers the sea to the land, which has proved evil to him throughout his life. The Awesome: James Mason's Captain Nemo is the quintessential Nemo and he fights to the very end, when he finally goes down with his ship, his loyal crew come with him. Prev Next Star Wars (1977-1983) The Captain: Han Solo might not be called captain, but he's captain of the Millenium Falcon, and that's reason enought to be on this list.

The Awesome: Harrison Ford's mercenary space pilot comes across as selfish, but when it comes down to it, he saves Luke Skywalker and pretty much the entire universe. He also boasts Chewie, that adorable wookie, as his loyal companion. He smuggles, he gambles and his best mate is a massive dog that tears people's arms off when they piss him off. We double-dare you to tell him he's not the most awesome captain of all time and space. Prev The ASC -- American Cinematographer: DVD Playback: American Cinematographer Digital Monaural Paramount Home Entertainment, $39.99 World War I has begun, and, under the stifling sun of German East Africa, two British missionaries are preoccupied with converting the natives into Methodists. Middle-aged, man-of-God Samuel Sayer (Robert Morley) and his spinster sister, Rose (Katharine Hepburn), brave the climate, hoping to save souls with rousing sermons and holy songs that, disappointingly, seem only to amuse the natives.

Frustrated, the two look forward to the increasingly rare visits from their link with the modern world, scruffy, Canadian boatman Charlie Allnut (Humphrey Bogart), who delivers mail, sundry items and precious tea. Despite Charlie’s warnings of growing war tensions, the Sayers stay on in the remote village but are soon confronted with German troops who torch the village and take the natives hostage. In the lonely aftermath, Samuel succumbs to a fever. Frightened, grief-stricken and alone, Rose is grateful when Charlie returns. Charlie quickly helps Rose bury Samuel and then suggests they plan to leave the area on his weatherworn steamboat, The African Queen. Aboard the rickety vessel, Rose and Charlie discuss traveling along the serpentine river. Charlie explains the British troops will not be able to get past the German warship Louisa, which patrols the lake into which the river eventually empties. He also notes the river is too treacherous to navigate because of its numerous rapids, water falls, a riverside German fort and, provided they get that far, armed Louisa, waiting in the lake.

Rose, however, finds solace in a plan to make the trip downriver to ambush the Louisa with torpedoes made from explosives Charlie has on board. Charlie balks, but Rose insists they have nothing to loose and should attempt to help their countries in their times of need. Begrudgingly, Charlie lurches the boat down the murky river through the jungle, knowing their path is next to impossible but also well aware there is really nowhere else they can go. He quickly teaches Rose how to steer the vessel and assist with other ad hoc, first-mate duties. As the days go by; the dark river turns white with rapids, and danger looms at every turn, prim Rose and salty Charlie make many discoveries, not the least of which is the strong affection growing between them. When maverick film director John Huston decided to helm an independently financed film adaptation of C.S. Forester’s novel The African Queen, few expected it would turn into one of the most popular American films from the Golden Age of Hollywood. Indeed, Huston’s choices of cast and crew have much to do with the film’s enduring appeal.

From the heavyweight star power of Bogart and Hepburn to the finely tuned banter in scribe James Agee’s screenplay, The African Queen boasts a superlative pedigree of talented artists, including legendary director of photography Jack Cardiff, BSC (Black Narcissus, The Red Shoes), who mounted the project in lush, incandescent Technicolor. Shot on location in Africa, Huston insisted on color-drenched images to maximize the beauty of the jungle. Cardiff rose to the occasion, managing to incorporate the hulking Technicolor camera into the small barges built to shoot on the water. “He said it was going to be easy,” remarks Cardiff in the supplemental section of Paramount Home Entertainment’s Blu-ray presentation of The African Queen. Cardiff reminisces about Huston, recalling the director assumed there would be no need for lighting rigs on location in Africa. While Cardiff agreed the bright sun would be the primary source of lighting, he wisely insisted on taking two lights and a generator. “Ironically,” Cardiff muses, “ the first two weeks of shooting it rained every day, but we were able to shoot because I had my two lamps.” Cardiff’s striking and vivid images of The African Queen continue to radiate in this new Blu-ray.

Using elements from the film’s 2009 digital restoration, this high-definition representation of Cardiff’s Technicolor work is reference quality. With deep, saturated colors and a wide range of blacks and shadows on display, there are fine details never before visible on home screens, including an essential amount of grain that gives the presentation an incredibly film-like texture. This new 1080p transfer is a revelation, returning to the images the exceptional depth and character originally intended. The monaural audio is solid, with some noise reduction employed to diminish age-related hiss. The Blu-ray edition of this beloved American film has only one included supplement, and it is actually enough. Director Eric Young’s excellent hour-long documentary Embracing Chaos: Making the African Queen incorporates vintage interviews with Cardiff, Huston, Hepburn and Bogart and new and recent interviews with surviving crew members as well as film directors Nicholas Meyer and Martin Scorsese. Aboard, too, are historians Richard Schickel and Rudy Behlmer, as well as Bogart biographer Eric Lax. Presented in high-definition, this exceptional “making of” doc with its impressive array of participants, great behind-the-scenes footage and absorbing commentary is wonderfully crafted.

All only adds to the experience of setting off on this legendary Hollywood journey once again, and, undoubtedly, longtime fans and newcomers will thoroughly enjoy this lush new presentation.  Kenneth Sweeney

Question: In book and film, which vessel was commanded by Charlie Allnut?
Answer: The African Queen